The first year working for yourself full time usually means one of two things: You’re working ALL the time, with no breaks, no rest, and not coming up for air. Or, you’re lost, not knowing where to begin or how much work is needed, and you’re spending more time figuring things out than actually working. There is generally no in-between.
I went from working for someone else, nine-to-five for 34 years of my life, to suddenly being my own boss. I was completely lost—especially at the height of the pandemic! I found it difficult to focus on anything while my husband and I tried to work around our two children, who were running through our very small Brooklyn apartment. It felt extremely daunting to go from sneaking in a couple hours of work on my side hustle to having all day every day to get work done. With no deadlines on my calendar or weekly meetings to attend, I soon found myself in an unproductive cycle of “researching” on social media, which really meant endless scrolling. This led to feeling guilty for not getting any real work done for my business. I knew I had to break the cycle and figure out a way to become more productive on my own.